Insurance Claim Problems with United Mileage Plus

We just received this email:

"I am going to cancel my United Mileage Plus card as I cannot get any satisfaction from Bank One to resolve a problem that goes back to March 2004 concerning a charge from BUDGET rental car.I notified 1-800 Visa-911 on March 27 that my rental car was broken into on March 25 in my hotel garage in Honolulu.

This notification met the reporting requirements of the VISA insurance policy. Bank One denied my claim for $410.84 for damages sustained to the car informing me that this is an "insurance" claim unrelated to my United Plus card. I maintain that whoever took the information from me about this mess was negligent in not reporting it to the insurance company.

This charge is still outstanding and I still dispute it as you have failed me as a long time excellent customer. I will cancel my card unless someone with the authority to discuss and cancel this charge contacts me with 72 hours. I know one car holder is a drop in the bucket to BANK ONE but it is also symptomatic of we don't give a darn about customers and if that be the case so be it, some other credit card will receive all of my future business."

This kind of email is difficult to receive because it's hard to offer useful advice in this sort of situation. Certainly any time you have a claim against a credit card guarantee, it's imperative that you keep a good paper trail, including noting down who you talked to and when, each time there's a contact between you and the company. Then if you ever end up disputing the claim, you'll have lots of information to share with - hopefully - a customer service supervisor. Which, of course, presupposes that they're listening...